I hope he doesnt win. Raul really deserved to win for Company, and I hope they dont 'give' him this award as a consolation prize. In a few years he will do something magical on Broadway, either on the level of Company or greater than that, and he will deserve to win for that. Not for a forgettable role in a play that has already closed.

"I mean, sitting side by side with another man watching Patti LuPone play Rose in GYPSY on Broadway is essentially the equivalent of having hardcore sex." -Wanna Be A Foster.
"Say 'Goody.' Say 'Bubbi.'" ... "That's it. Exactly as if it were 'Goody.' Now I know you're gonna sing 'Goody' this time, but nevertheless..."

I thought he was excellent in the Homecoming, but the play was certainly more of an ensemble production. He deserved to win for Company, and if he wins this year, I'll have to wonder if it's somehow an apology for last year. Nevertheless, his portrayal of Lenny isn't undeserving of the award.

"In theater, the process of it is the experience. Everyone goes through the process, and everyone has the experience together. It doesn't last - only in people's memories and in their hearts. That's the beauty and sadness of it. But that's life - beauty and the sadness. And that is why theater is life." - Sherie Rene Scott

And yet that was last season, the Tony awards of 2008 should go to the performance of the actor THIS year and not cumulatively. I said the same thing last year with the whole John McMartin issue. It sucks when actors get overlooked, especially those like McMartin who have never won and have careers spanning half a century. But can the committee please try and be fair by sticking to the fact that it's what happened this year that we're celebrating?

1) Jim Norton's show closed at the end of March. Granted, THE HOMECOMING is also closed, but it did so in the middle of April, and sometimes, that time is all a show needs to get extra voters in to see it.

2) Norton was considered the best part of THE SEAFARER (and was certainly raved for enough), but he's had the award for so long that people might want to give the category some options by voting for Esparza.

3) Apparently Esparza's performance got better and better as the run went on. That could certainly have a positive effect.

4) Esparza is due. I REALLY hope they don't give it to him because of this.

I still think Jim Norton is the frontrunner, but Esparza could could COULD sneak in. I don't know how I'd feel if he did: we'll just have to wait.

"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum

By 'Tony committee' do you mean Tony voters? Because there is no committee that gives out the awards - just the voters. And there's over 750 of them. And I'm sure not all of them feel Esparza is owed anything because of the way they voted last year.

There's that "way overdue" phrase again. Raul's been onstage in New York for about seven years. When Chita Rivera won her first Tony Award in 1984 for The Rink after 30 years onstage, you could say that was "way overdue". When Mary Louise Wilson won her first Tony for Grey Gardens after a 40 year career, again, that was "way overdue". When Elaine Stritch won for her one-woman show after 50+ years onstage, sure, that was "way overdue".